Ashes to Behold and Losses to Comprehend
by MelodyReiterLee
Summary: Chapter 4 up. This is based on Seiken Densetsu 3 or Secret of Mana2. It focuses on Kevin, Carlie, and Duran as the hero group. I don't remmeber where I was going with this originally...Bleh..it sucks more.. Permanently halted.
1. Chapter 1: I'll change the names later

Disclaimer: SD3 characters are the property of Squaresoft.  

Note: This occurs during one of the adventures.

Ashes to Behold and Losses to Comprehend

Somewhere far away, there is a world…. a world where there exist countries such as the …. Ice ridden magic kingdom Altena…grasslands Forena… Beast Kingdom…the wind  kingdom Rolante…. The desert Navarre… where there are places like the Valley of Flames… the Glass Desert…the Labyrinth of Ice walls… the Forest of Wonder with its glowing flowers of the night…. Cleft of the Earth….and others. 

_            Carlie giggled as she ran about in the garden blowing bubbles and chasing butterflies. Heath stood by watching her with a small smile. It was a mild clear day, and Carlie was enjoying herself when she took a fall and scraped her knee. _

_            "Owwwies…that hurts!!!!" Carlie cried. Tears immediately welled up in her eyes._

_            "Oh, Carlie, don't worry. It's only a scratch. Let me help you," Heath said._

_            Carlie sobbed and tried to keep still as Heath healed her. It was all over in a blink._

_            "There, there. It's fine now," Heath said with a soothing voice. _

_            "It's over? It is?" Carlie asked with tearful eyes._

_            "Yes, Carlie." Heath smiled and picked Carlie up._

_            Carlie giggled as Heath played with her._

_            Suddenly, the skies grew dark and the wind sped up knocking over a near by tree. A dark portal appeared in front of Heath and Carlie. From it came out a scary creature that had never been seen before._

_            "Carlie, run… I'll take care of this…" Heath said._

_            "But…but..Heath!" Carlie cried._

_            "Go now, Carlie," Heath insisted. He was being dragged into the portal._

_            Carlie ran reluctantly and turned just in time to see Heath disappear into the portal with the strange person. "HEATH!!!"_

            Kevin looked over at the sprite next to him. She was making little sobbing noises. Tears were pouring out of her eyes. Her blanket covers were falling off. On the other side of him was the knight Duran, who was snoring loudly and sleeping rather comfortably.  Kevin sighed. He pulled the blankets over Carlie and went back to sleep. 

            Later that night, Kevin was awakened by wailing. The sprite was crying loudly. Kevin didn't have to even glance at the knight. His snores rivaled the cries of Carlie. Kevin sighed.

            "What's wrong?" he asked Carlie.

            Carlie looked at Kevin with brimming eyes. "I had bad dream…bad person took my Heath away…wahhhh!"

            "Calm down. Yer going to wake everyone up!" Kevin hissed.

            Carlie pouted. "WAAAHHHH! Meanie! You yelling at me!"

            Kevin's face grew red. "Shhh….I'm na trying to be mean…" He patted Carlie and comforted her. "Don't ya worry, little one. We'll save him."

            Carlie sobbed. "Yea, we get Heathie back. Beat up evil baddie that take Heath away…" She paused, recalling what Kevin has said before partially comforted and partially annoyed. She smacked Kevin on the head.

            "Hey! What was that for?" Kevin growled.

            Carlie pouted. "I'm not little! Wahhhhhh!"

            "Shhh…you'll wake him up!" Kevin pointed to the loudly snoring peacefully Duran. "I miss my Karl too. I can bring him back if we get Mana…  
 Kevin felt tears well up in his eyes. "I'm going outside…" He went out and climbed on the roof. Looking at the moon, he cried and howled. 

            Inside, Carlie started wailing in response to Kevin's melancholy. Strangely enough, Duran was not disturbed. He snored on disrupting the rest of the inn's customers.


	2. Chapter 2: I'm braindead right now

Disclaimer: Again, SD3 characters are not owned by me. The only character in this section that I've made up is MHC.

            Duran yawned as he got up. Carlie and Kevin were already dressed and waiting. "Hey, sleep well?"

            Carlie and Kevin looked at each remembering their laments last night and what had occurred between them. They smiled. "Sure!"

            Duran grinned. "Well, that's good to hear. We've got a quest to fulfill, and I've to learn more about the world and my skills." He went up to the innkeeper.

            The innkeeper glared at him. "I gather you slept well?"

            "Oh, yes, absolutely! Your inn is quite comfortable. I was so caught up in sleeping that my friends had to push me off the bed to wake me up."

            Carlie and Kevin snickered.

_What had actually happened…_

_            Carlie had wailed while Kevin had howled in melancholy for two hours straight. Then, crawling back into their beds, they had slept rather unsoundly, considering the fact that they woke up about every five minutes from an enormously loud snore from the knight. Annoyed, they tried to sleep, but failed. They were able to catch small naps and get enough rest though._

_             At dawn, Kevin and Carlie had been ready to leave, but Duran had been snoring soundly. At first, they two had tried to shake him awake. That failed. They tried pushing him off the bed. That failed. They attempted to shock him with freezing water. Duran continued to sleep peacefully while emitting atrocious noises. Kevin proceeded to punch him. Duran didn't respond at all. He grumbled something, and his two companions thought that he had woken up, but he resumed snoring just as quickly. Carlie pouted and tried jumping up and down on Duran, but one loud snore from Duran surprised her and caused her to lose balance and fall into Kevin. They tumbled to the ground. _

_            "Why ya lose balance?" Kevin had yowled._

_            Carlie had pouted. "It not my fault he sleep sooo well!"_

_            Kevin made a face. "Grrr..."_

_            After about an hour spent on attempts to wake Duran up, Carlie had gotten completely frustrated. She took out a hammer and eyed the snoring knight._

_            "No, wait! He's…" Kevin started._

_            Too late. Carlie slammed the hammer down on Duran's face. Kevin winced. Carlie made a face. "That's better wake him up!"_

_            After five minutes, Duran blinked and woke up. Carlie and Kevin stared at him._

_            "Ehehehe…delayed reaction?" Kevin whispered._

_            Carlie quickly hid the hammer behind her back._

_            Duran yawned and sat up. "I'm on the floor?" He rubbed his cheek. "Oww… my face hurts…"_

_            Kevin and Carlie snickered to themselves._

_            "Well, umm, yer sleeping and.." Kevin started._

_            "We try to wake ya up!" Carlie finished._

_            Duran blinked. "I don't get it. Why am I on the floor?"_

_            "Well, uh… we pushed ya off the bed… and ya fell on yer face," Kevin explained._

_            "Yeah!" Carlie quickly agreed. "Now, GET UP SO WE CAN SAVE MY HEATHIE!"_

_            Duran blinked and stared at Carlie as he sluggishly got up and readied himself. "Whoa. Calm down, Carlie. We're in no hurry. Well, actually, we are. I've got to learn more about swordsmanship."_

_            Carlie pouted. "Derrrr…. HURRY UP!!!!"_

_            Duran stared at her. "ALRIGHT! I AM!"_

_            Kevin sneaked out the door and waited with an embarrassed face. "I do not know them…" He watched people stare at the inn…_

            MHC strutted about hurriedly as he inquired about the "wonderful" chorus of noises he had the chance of hearing the night before. The people he encountered eyed him with seething faces and glared. They didn't answer him, so he took it into his mind to find the "wonderful" musicians. He was after all MHC. 


	3. Chapter 3: I WILL think of reasonable ch...

Note: Ack. This chapter didn't turn out too well. ^^;;;;

                It was a nice day really. It was bright, sunny, and there was not a single cloud in the sky. The breeze was cheerful. Birds flew about chirping. The threesome were about to leave town. Outside, they saw now and then rabbits hopping about and other serene elements of nature.

                "La da dee! La la dee da!" Carlie sang as she skipped along. She would shy away from butterflies though. They reminded her too much of Heath's capture. Kevin walked behind her with his hands behind his back. He was deep in thought.

                Duran was strutting in the front as the leader. Every now and then, he would take a swing with his sword at the empty air in front of him just to practice his strokes. Suddenly, he stopped marching though.  Carlie crashed into him. He turned to her. "Would you just stop it?" he yelled.

                Carlie backed into Kevin. "What do ya mean? Stop what?"

                "Your gibberish blasphemy singing! What do you think I mean?" Duran hollered.

                Carlie pouted and fumed. "Not gibrish! Humming!"

                Kevin glared at Duran. "That mean."

                "Hmph." Duran glared back at Kevin. "We've got no time for this. We need to find the next Mana Stone!" He turned his back and marched on.

                Carlie pouted and stormed pass Duran and stopped in front of him. "Say sorry!"

                Duran ignored her and walked on. Carlie again stopped him. Kevin sighed exasperatedly. Carlie could be quite annoying when one raised her ire. They really didn't get far that morning. Kevin calculated the distance without the use of mathematics. They had traveled about a mile in four hours… ^^;;

***

                MHC rushed along. The innkeeper had informed him reluctantly of the trio's leaving. He didn't seem particularly happy. In fact, the townspeople had seemed terribly grumpy this particular morning.  MHC shrugged. He wondered why. 

                The innkeeper had said that they were heading west. MHC glanced upwards. The sun was high in the sky. MHC stopped rushing. He was heading east…


	4. Chapter 4: BRAINDEAD AND DYING

Note: There will probably be many references to forests in this fic as well as references to music. And as always, all SD3 property belongs to Squaresoft. 

                Duran, Carlie, and Kevin had their backs toward each other, forming a triangle behind them. They were surrounded by monsters. Duran furrowed his eyebrows. _Man, I can do this._

                Carlie pouted and raised her mace like weapon in defense as Kevin bided his time. "We shad wait for 'em to come close, then fight."

                Duran shook his head. "No, no," he whispered. "We should just charge and disperse them."

                Kevin frowned, and Carlie made a face. "Whatever."

                "NOW!" Duran hollered as he charged with his sword down ready to slash. Kevin and Carlie attacked together, not wanting to be separated and overpowered by the numerous monsters. Duran, they felt, would be fine since he absolutely knew what he was doing.

                Kevin gave the monsters a taste of his karate moves and Carlie swung about her weapon. Back to back, the two covered each other very well. Duran, on the other hand, found himself surrounded….mostly by trees and two enemies. With nowhere to run, Duran launched an all out attack…

                "Ouch! Duran! Ya can't aim!" Carlie squealed  

                "Don't worry, kids. I've got the situation under control!" Duran yelled as he slashed at the enemies around them and actually killed them.

                Carlie and Kevin lay on the floor. Kevin had a gash in his right arm. Carlie was crying. Kevin was trying his best to comfort her. "Now, now, Carlie, everythin's gonna be alright."

                "Yah, as soon as Duran stops!" Carlie cried. 

                Duran came to a halt as all the enemies fell. "Slew them all, eh? Fit to slay a dragon…." 

                (Ironically, we all know who his supposed last enemy is in his storyline.)

                "Duran, look what ya did to Kevin!" Carlie yelled.

                "It's alright. Really. Only a small wound." Kevin sighed. "Let's go."

                Duran grinned and walked off, leaving a pouting Carlie and an annoyed Kevin to catch up. After traveling for awhile, they spotted a sign declaring some sort of artist competition. Duran looked at it with glee. "I'm an artist! I'll show them the art of the sword, and then I'll claim victory for the kingdom!"

                "That's great, Duran, but ya suck," Kevin said softly.

                "I'll paint a picture of ya," Carlie giggled.  "Ya'll look like a silly person!"

                "A picture of me? Ha! Tha won't do… Oh, wait…  looks like we need a team of three. So, how about it?" Duran asked with a big grin.

                "I don't know wat to do as an art," Kevin barked.

                "We'll think of something for ya." Carlie grinned.

Note: I'm going to end this soon. I'm really braindead. I'll probably start a different fic. I think I'm bored.^^;;


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